


The Sky Could Be Blue

by ShowMeAHero



Series: Twist and Shout [2]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Babies, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Making Out, Married Couple, Married Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 17:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10621239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Carlos has to go into the lab, which means Cecil has to take Joey to the station, which means not a whole lot of work is going to get done.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in a grave of my own making.
> 
> Title pulled from "[Strawberry Swing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3pJZSTQqIg)" by Coldplay.

“Are you sure?” Carlos, stay-at-home dad and caretaker extraordinaire, asked, hands clasped tightly together, presumably to stop him from fussing. He was failing at it, if that’s what it was. “Because I can just stay home.”

“You literally cannot stay home, Carlos,” Cecil reminded him. “You’ve been specifically called for a specific experiment that children should not be around. Science is volatile. You said so yourself.”

“But I-”

“She’ll be fine,” Cecil said, packing Joey carefully into the baby carrier on his chest. Carlos’ hands finally fluttered out, checking the straps and tightening them until Joey turned her head to frown at him. He pulled her close with one hand covering over the entire back of her head, kissing her on her downy-soft curls, pressing their foreheads together.

“I miss her already,” Carlos said softly. Cecil reached up to scratch Carlos’ scalp lightly.

“I know,” Cecil told him. “But she’ll have fun at the station.”

“Do  _ not  _ let Station Management near her,” Carlos warned. “And remember-”

“I remember  _ everything  _ you’ve told me, since you’ve told it to me  _ seventeen  _ times,” Cecil said. “She’s going to be fine. I promise. She’s going to have fun at work with Daddy.”

“And she’s going to miss Papi,” Carlos murmured. Cecil kissed his nose.

“And she’s going to miss Papi,” Cecil echoed. “But she’s also spent every day with you since birth. And, you know, probably every day before birth, too.”

“Kind of,” Carlos said. He kissed her forehead again. “Text me throughout the day. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And send me pictures?”

“Okay.”

“Okay. And-”

“Anything,” Cecil allowed. “I’ll do all of it. Text me a list. If you don’t leave now, you’re going to be late, and you can’t be late unless you do the requisite bloodstone circle in the bathroom-”

“Okay, I’ll text you a list,” Carlos interrupted. He ducked his head to look down into Joey’s face, and she tipped her head back helpfully to look back. “I’ll see you tonight, honey. Have fun at work with Daddy. I love you.”

“She loves you, too,” Cecil assured him. Carlos hesitated, still making eye contact with Joey, and Cecil pushed him towards the door. “Go, or you’ll never go back.”

“Okay, I’m going,” Carlos said, grinning, but he did go. He took an unusually drawn-out amount of time to put his shoes and his lab coat on, grabbing his keys with an exaggeratedly long reach. He hesitated again by the door. “I love you.”

“We love you, too,” Cecil said. “ _ Go _ .”

“Bye,” Carlos said, inching out the door. “Love you.”

“Love you.”

A pause. “Love you.” The door shut behind him. Cecil laughed, now alone with Joey, who had her head tipped back to stare up at Cecil. She had one eyebrow challengingly raised, which he thought was rather advanced for a four-month-old.

“You’ll see Papi tonight,” he assured her. “I know you miss him. But he’ll be back.” Joey, seemingly satisfied with the answer she could hardly understand, buried her face in his chest. He stroked his fingertips through her soft dark curls. She made a soft sigh of a sound and let her eyes flutter shut. He took advantage of her quiet satisfaction to pack his messenger bag with his notes, their lunches, and her baby necessities that Carlos had lined up and labeled neatly with homemade, lead-free, and slightly illegal paint on their kitchen table.

“Looks like Papi left you a treat,” Cecil commented, picking up the small container of mashed-up avocado and barley. “Promise me you won’t vomit this on me, Jojo.”

“Mm,” Joey hummed, attention dragged out of her at the mention of her name. She remained remarkably lethargic.

“Well, regardless,” Cecil said, packing it despite her lack of a promise. He found himself bouncing in place while he packed, like he watched Carlos do so often, and Joey seemed contented by. He reached up to stroke one thumb over her cheek, dark skin on dark skin. His tattoos swirled happily where they touched, bringing a soft white-and-purple glow to her face. He withdrew his hand and set to packing her into the backseat of his car.

“Are you gonna help me give the reports tonight?” Cecil asked, sliding into the driver’s seat. Joey was watching him in her little mirror, eye contact rapt. Cecil blinked; she blinked back. “Still miss Papi?” Joey frowned. “I know. Me, too.”

She seemed to enjoy the rumble of his ancient convertible’s ancient engine, humming along with it and babbling happily when Cecil asked her questions, even though none of the sounds out of her mouth were actual words, in Spanish, English, or Latin. She answered cheerfully every time he spoke, all the way to the station’s parking lot.

“You’re gonna have a great day,” Cecil told her, unpacking her and tucking her back into her baby carrier. She craned her neck to watch the station as they answered, her one cut tooth sharp when she bared her gums at it.

“You get used to that feeling,” Cecil assured her, his own goosebumps and fight-or-flight sensation long since familiar enough to ignore. She made a soft and angry sound under her breath and fisted her hands in his shirt. He stroked the backs of her hands with his fingertip as he brought her to the recording booth.

“Is she going to-” Intern Brady began, but Cecil waved them off.

“She’ll be fine in here with me,” Cecil told them. “I’ll keep her safe. Don’t worry. Just lock the door behind me once I’m in there.”

“Dead bolts?”

“All of it,” Cecil told him. “Give us a few minutes, though.”

Cecil brought the fascinated Joey into the unisex restroom, gingerly lifting her up out of her carrier as he did so. Khoshekh drifted absently near the sink; when the door swung shut, he turned his head towards them and started purring happily at the familiar sight of Cecil. Cecil approached carefully, letting Joey and Khoshekh adjust to one another before they were within arm’s length. Cecil reached into his messenger bag and pulled out Joey’s tiny industrial gloves, slipping them on her little hands before he let her reach towards Khoshekh. With the horrible aim of a four-month-old, she stretched out and pat Khoshekh’s head with a little too much force; Khoshekh took it in stride. She smacked tenderly at his spine ridges and anterior spines. She was captivated next by the floating kittens, getting more and more excited the more Cecil let her pet them. She tired easily, though, and Cecil gave Khoshekh, Mixtape, and the kittens their dinner bowls of Science Diet Low Calorie Cat Food before standing up with Joey. She reached out and smacked at Khoshekh a little more before settling back against Cecil’s chest.

“No poison for my baby girl today, right?” Cecil said, slipping off her tough gloves and packing them away in a Ziploc bag. He tucked her back into the carrier and escorted her out of the restroom and into the recording booth.

“You’ve got a letter from Station Management,” Brady told him, lingering in the doorway after they handed over the envelope. “I had the station oracle interpret it and translate it for you.”

Cecil stuck his head out the door to peer at Station Management’s office door. He offered a wave; Joey craned her neck to see what he was looking at, but he turned her head back around.

“Watch out with that,” Brady warned Cecil, as he settled down in his chair and peeled open the interoffice memo envelope. “It knocked me unconscious when I looked at the glyph on the bottom.”

Cecil pried open one of his desk drawers and pulled out a blindfold, which he slipped around Joey’s eyes. She rested his head on his chest and waited as Cecil slipped his sunglasses over his eyeglasses and carefully unfolded both the memo and the translation. He covered the glyph with his hand when it was opened and skimmed the letters.

“Oh,” Cecil said, excited. “Station Management made today Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work Day. That was nice of them.”

“I wish they’d told me before I left home,” Brady commented before leaving the room. Cecil got up to shut, lock, and bolt the door behind them. He set the letters and translations on fire, getting a little woozy when he glimpsed the glyphs in his peripherals, and dropped them in the trash barrel. Brady was already setting up on the other side of the glass window, hooking up his microphones and organizing the weather report Cecil had sent in that morning.

“See?” Cecil said, before realizing Joey could not, in fact, see. He tugged her blindfold off and unstrapped the carrier. “See?” he repeated. Joey grabbed at the memos and announcements in front of him.

Cecil’s phone chirped and Joey’s head snapped towards it, seemingly recognizing Carlos’ text tone. She reached out towards it with her chubby brown hand from her spot in Cecil’s lap; Cecil peeked at it.

“Oh, he doesn’t trust us,” Cecil said, tapping out a reply to Carlos’ concerned texts. “Like I’d let Station Management near you. Nothing can hurt you in here. It’s one of the safest places in town, after Papi’s lab.” He leaned down and tapped Joey’s nose with his fingertip. “The safest place to be is with science, and you’re half-science, so you count. Right?”

Joey babbled.

“Right.” Cecil put his phone down upside-down. Brady was frantically motioning to him, but Cecil just waved them off. He sorted through the announcements in front of him until they were in a rhythmic order and gave Brady a thumbs-up. When the lights above his head turned on, he leaned into the microphone, shuffling Joey to the side slightly.

“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It’s how many lives you take in those years. Welcome to Night Vale,” Cecil said, and Joey immediately shrieked. He shushed her and let the intro music play over her. Brady raised an eyebrow at him but Cecil just waved them off.

“Hello, listeners,” Cecil said, skimming through the announcements in front of him. Brady waved and pointed at the one Cecil had in his hands. “It appears the beings formerly referred to only as Erikas, now known to also be angels, have started their own competitive bowling league in town. They want to honor Old Woman Josie’s memory and are having their polos made as we speak.” Cecil frowned, putting the papers down. “Hey, Erikas. Why don’t you just join our bowling team? I’m sure Sarah Sultan wouldn’t mind, and Carlos and I certainly don’t, eith-”

Joey shrieked. Cecil glanced down at her, and she up at him. They both furrowed their brows and frowned at each other.

“We don’t mind,” Cecil finished. “We’d be happy to have you on the team. I don’t think we could beat you on league night, anyways. A team of angels may be better at bowling than us. A smooth, fist-sized river rock can only do so well. Carlos and I-”

Joey shrieked again. Cecil and her looked at one another again.

“Carlos.”

Joey shrieked.

“Papi.”

Joey grabbed at Cecil’s face and let out a long shriek, followed by babbling.

Cecil sighed.

“Listeners, we have a guest on the show today,” Cecil announced. Intern Brady slumped down in their chair. “It’s my daughter, Josefina. Say hi, Joey.”

Joey made unintelligible sounds and reached for Cecil’s tie, tugging hard enough on it to get him to drop his head. She grabbed at his hair.

“She says hello,” Cecil informed the audience. “Typically, she stays home with Carlos,” a shriek from Joey, “or goes to the lab with him. The safest place in Night Vale is near science. However, science was volatile today, and Carlos,” another shriek, “got called in to help with a rogue scorpion experiment that we agreed children should not be near until they are at least able to walk, or run, away, in fear.” He glanced down at Joey. “Isn’t that right?”

Joey stuffed his tie in her mouth and yanked on his hair again. Cecil bowed his head for her to get a better grip and pulled the microphone into his lap.

“Listeners, I don’t mean to brag, but I think we might have a future radio station intern on her hands,” Cecil said. “And you know what happens to our interns! They become  _ mayors _ . In other news, the Desert Flow-” Cecil’s phone interrupted him with a ring. He picked it up to turn it off and frowned when he saw Steve’s name on it. “I’m sorry, listeners, hold on.” He picked up the call and put it on speaker-phone. “Hello?”

“Cecil?” Steve said, clear enough for Cecil, Joey, and all of Night Vale to hear through the microphone. “Hey, brother!”

“Hi, Steve. Is something wrong?” Cecil asked. Joey reached for the phone, but Cecil held it up above her head. She babbled senselessly at him.

“No! No, I just heard on the radio you’ve got Jojo there! Janice and I wanted to say hi!” Steve said cheerfully. Cecil sighed.

“Steve, I told you that I- Oh. Janice wanted to say hi?” Cecil said, interrupting himself. Joey yawned and released his hair; he straightened his neck gratefully.

“She sure did! Here she is,” Steve said, and there was a rustle of static as the phone was transferred.

“Uncle Cecil?” Janice’s voice came through clear as a bell, and Cecil grinned. Joey lit up hearing her cousin’s voice. “Hi! It’s me, Janice.”

“Hi, Janice! How are you today?”

“I’m good,” she said. “I heard Joey on the radio. She’s good at talking on the radio. I liked the bit about respecting the Glow Cloud and not necessarily worshipping them because everyone needs normal interactions to thrive, according to Maslow’s hierarchy.”

“Uhm… Yeah,” Cecil said. Joey grabbed for the microphone; Cecil snatched it away. “How was school?”

“It was fine,” Janice told him. “Our science fair is coming up. Can Uncle Carlos help with my project?”

“I’m sure he can,” Cecil said, ignoring the  _ This is not personal call time!!  _ message Intern Brady had frantically written on their hand in marker. Brady groaned silently on the other side of the glass. “Why don’t you all come over tonight and you two can brainstorm? Maybe he’ll teach you something scientific! Like why all the raccoons are gone!”

“Sounds great! Can we go?” Janice said, voice far away from the phone, and there was another rustle. “We can go! Can I bring Roger? He needs help, too. His dad doesn’t know any science except biology, and Mom says biology is not a science, but a fiction, so I don’t think it counts.”

“Roger Harlan? That’s up to your mother,” Cecil said. “I’m okay with it. I’m sure Uncle Carlos is, too.”

“Okay!” Janice exclaimed. “I’ll see you tonight! I love you, Uncle Cecil! Bye, Joey!”

“We love you, too, Janice. See you tonight.” Cecil hung up the phone. “Well, listeners, that was my niece, Janice. It seems like she could learn a thing or two from our Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner. Speaking of, I think I have a note here about-” Cecil’s phone rang again. “Oh. Sorry, listeners, hold on.”

Intern Brady was shaking their head desperately, and buried their face in their hands when Cecil picked up the phone on seeing it was Earl calling.

“Hi, Earl!” Cecil exclaimed, putting the phone on speaker. “Listeners, it’s Earl Harlan, the sous-chef at Tourniquet and the guest host of one of my  _ favorite  _ segments, ‘Cooking Stuff with Earl Harlan.’ Hi, Earl.”

“Hello, Cecil,” Earl said. “I heard you talking to Janice on the phone. Did she really… She wants Roger to come over?”

“Yeah!” Cecil said, pulling his tie out of Joey’s mouth and reaching down to riffle through his messenger bag for her teething ring. “Does Roger need help with his science fair project, too?”

“Yeah,” Earl said. “Yeah, he does. I don’t know anything about science except the fiction of biology.” Earl paused. Cecil waited. “I… Roger doesn’t have many friends.”

“Well, he has Janice,” Cecil told him. “You two can come over tonight.”

Joey made a babbling sound around her teething ring. Earl huffed a laugh on the other end of the line.

“See you tonight, Josefina,” Earl said. “You, too, Cecil. Do you ever think… No.”

“Earl?” Cecil asked. Earl wished him a good afternoon and hung up. Cecil looked at the phone and shrugged. “Okay. Looks like we’re having a lot of people over tonight! It’s like Thanksgiving all over again. Maybe Carlos will even-” Joey shrieked again, and Cecil laughed this time. “You miss him, don’t you, Joey?”

“Cecil!” Intern Brady shouted from the other side of the glass. “Focus! On the announcements!”

“She misses her Papi, Brady, I can’t help that!” Cecil called back. Joey rubbed at her face and started babbling senselessly again. Cecil’s phone rang a third time.

“Oh, my  _ God, _ ” Brady groaned loudly from the other room. Cecil picked up his phone without even bothering to glance at the caller ID this time. He turned it on to speakerphone and greeted the caller cheerfully.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hello, Cecil?” Carlos said. Joey started to desperately writhe towards the phone at the sound of his voice. “It’s Carlos.”

“Hi, bunny,” Cecil said back, setting the phone on the desk and placing the microphone next to it. “Say hi, Jojo.”

Joey babbled. Carlos laughed on the other end.

“Hi, Bambi,” Carlos said. “I heard her on the radio. She’s doing so well! She’s a regular Lee Marvin. Anyways,” Carlos continued, “I heard her on the radio, and I heard  _ you  _ on the radio, and I realized how much I missed you both. How are you both doing?”

“Joey’s doing great,” Cecil assured him. “She’s been reading announcements for me, according to Janice. Station Management  _ loves  _ her.”

“Oh,” Carlos said. “That’s… good?”

“It’s not bad,” Cecil rushed to assure him. “And we’re locked safely in my booth, so I know she’s okay. She even met Khoshekh!”

“That sounds like a good day,” Carlos said. “We’re having people over for dinner?”

“Not just people,” Cecil said, readjusting Joey on his lap. “Janice, and Abby, and Earl, and Roger, and… others.” Cecil stroked his fingertips through Joey’s hair. “It’ll be nice.”

“It  _ will  _ be nice,” Carlos said. Cecil appreciated the confirmation. “I can make chilaquiles, if you want.”

“Sounds good,” Cecil said. Joey reached out for the microphone, looking back at Cecil desperately when Carlos wasn’t on the other side of the window waiting for her. “I think she misses you, Carlos.”

“I miss her, too,” Carlos said. Someone said his name behind him, and his voice got distant as he answered a question. His tone suggested he was asking one of his own. “Okay. Hi. I’m coming home.”

“What?” Cecil asked.

“I’m coming home, they don’t need me here anymore,” Carlos said. “Do you want me to pick her up?”

Cecil glanced down at Joey. Joey turned her head up to look at him. Her fat cheeks bulged with her teething ring.

“We’ll come home, too,” Cecil said, ignoring the shriek of indignation from Intern Brady. “We’ll be right there.”

“Love you.”

“We love you, too,” Cecil answered, hanging up the phone. “Well, listeners, Intern Brady will give you our announcements for the remainder of today’s show. I have to go home and make my husband make chilaquiles and let him see our daughter before he loses his mind. Literally and/or figuratively. Stay tuned next for the sounds of a disgruntled intern doing a job that they did not apply for or ever want.”

“Fuck you!” Intern Brady screamed through the window. Joey frowned at them. Cecil muted the microphone, ignored Brady’s frantic gathering of the announcement papers once he unlocked the door for them, and carried Joey back down to the car.

“We’re going home to see Papi,” Cecil told her as he buckled her in. Joey shrieked and kept eye contact in their mirrors the whole way home. The transparents roads posed a challenge, but Cecil had dealt with it often enough that getting home was a cinch. Carlos’ car was already in the driveway when he got there, and Carlos himself was standing in the doorway. He was by the car by the time it was turned off.

“Hi, baby,” Carlos said, prying open Cecil’s back car door to release Joey. Joey was shrieking and babbling for him, stretching her arms out as far as she could to reach for him. “How was your day with Daddy? Did you learn anything new?”

“She learned the importance of mutual respects and interpersonal relationships in a community,” Cecil told him, slamming the car door behind him. Carlos had his face buried in Joey’s hair.

“Good girl,” Carlos said softly. Cecil pat him on the back and reeled him in for a kiss on the forehead. Carlos visibly relaxed, the line of tension in his shoulders dripping away. “I missed you two so much.”

“We’re home now,” Cecil said. “We have time before we have to make the chilaquiles. Why don’t we take a little break?”

“Okay,” Carlos said, still not releasing his non-literal death grip on his daughter. He let Cecil lead them to their bed and shove Carlos into it. Carlos situated Joey on the bed beside him as Cecil climbed in on her other side.

“Intern Brady is gonna kill you,” Carlos laughed. Joey grabbed his hair in one chubby fist, and a handful of Cecil’s tie in the other.

“They could use the experience,” Cecil told him. He touched the soft point of Joey’s nose with his fingertip. “Love you.”

“Love you,” Carlos echoed. Joey babbled up at them. The sun shone hot outside their windows. Everything was perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to keep writing about them with this baby forever.
> 
> I have written, like, zero fanfiction lately because I actually wrote a book instead. It was a long road but I actually did it! It's about two young ladies who hunt aliens and fall in love. If you want to read it, shoot me a message!
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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